zzzquil, the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil. >> i'm jim cramer and welcome to my world. >> you need to get in the game! firms are going to go out of business and he's nuts! they're nuts! they know nothing! >> i always like to say there is a bull market somewhere. "mad money," you can't afford to miss it. hey, i'm cramer. welcome to "mad money." welcome to cramerica. some people want to make friends. i just want more days like today. my job is not just to entertain you but to educate you. so call me at 1-800-743-cnbc. today we saw it. we saw it in all its glory. today we saw the world through the lens of compromise. today we saw what the stock market looks like if washington rises above politics! ♪ hallelujah

the dow surging, s&p climbing, nasdaq surging. [ applause ] any time you try to analyze winners, you have to eliminate the stocks that move because of other exogenous events. oil and gas stocks had gigantic moves because of the turmoil in the middle east. so many companies can benefit from the increase in the worldwide price of oil. second, we're seeing the china plays move up. it's become quite obvious. a hard landing will be avoided. that's how copper stock like freeport or hefry machinery can rally. those aren't fiscal cliff stories. what are? what are fiscal cliff stories? how about the home improvement plays? we can sit here and say that lowe's rallied today because of reported better than expected quarter this morning. you can argue that hurricane sandy could augment earnings for the next year as we're beginning to rebuild the jersey coast. many of the hardest hit areas aren't even accessible to contractors let alone homeowners. however, i think that retail is the biggest winner if we hammer out a phased-in group of spending cuts and tax increases. and the retailers that cater to

making your home worth more are the players who will get the biggest share of those spare dollars. go back and listen to the home depot conference call. the key theme is the cycle is just beginning. spending on your home is actually growing as a percentage. go over the fiscal cliff, that nascent trend would be snuffed by dramatic tax increases. you have to bet that home depot shoppers revert to the ways that we saw several quarters ago. and i got to tell you something, it's not too late to buy the home despot. you should be buying the companies which sell into aisle, aisle, aisle, and aisle of home depot and lowe's. how about sherwin williams? how about stanley black & decker? whirlpool. perennial 52 week high. let's go back to usg. i think people are seeing the

need for wall board to rebuild the jersey coast and then new name, briggs and stratton. i think people are done relying on the electric grid for power. you know what? fiscal cliff? if it's really good buy, i like the discretionary plays. harley-davidson, polaris, dick's sporting goods. you give rich people more money, they buy municipal bonds first, boats second and then create the jobs that they're so often lionized for. then return to the retailers. i urge you to keep in mind some of these if the cliff is bridged, notably nordstrom and petsmart. high end retail suppliers have been disappointing, right? the stocks have just been okay. ralph lauren, coach and pvh were terrific for a long time. then people started freaking out. wait a second.

we could be twice blessed. pvh is up 58% for the year. 2013 looks terrific for them. the ceo said the same thing. but in a situation where you had no idea what the capital gains tax rates would be, you want to nail that out of the gate. why risk that they go up dramatically? now maybe you don't have to. that's what today looked like. today was about no fiscal cliff which brings me to the second group of stocks that ought to be able to reverse themselves if we know higher taxes are going slowly and not mandated to go immediately higher. stocks with huge gains that have been hammered since the election. exhibit a, apple. it's now had a 10% move off the bottom from friday. if you can put off when you pay taxes, you will want to provided the rates don't skyrocket. if you can hold off selling and not pay the taxman, hey, then the apples of the world go higher. no one wants this creative tax event if they can avoid it. i also like the home builders. stocks that will be getting a second breather. a selling breather so to speak.

people are scared. toll brothers, standard pacific, wow. toll brothers is up 50%. standard pacific, 100%. of course, there is amazon. this is going to be a monster online retail season. please use deep in the money call options out several months if you want to play this one. i fear gigantic selloff related to multiple stocks and amazon is the highest multiple stock i follow. we've seen a huge downturn in stocks that pay dividends. now we got to question whether that may be phased in over time, too, hence the nice rise in at&t. i think they can continue if we really get a fazed in compromise for taxes and dividend income. the final tax beneficiaries are mlps. they've been selling off hard. somehow they would lose the tax favored status. just rumors, mind you. any sign a deal could be done

would remove the uncertainty. lnco is down a couple points because of this fracas, paid 7.6% yield. did not catch the bottom in the stocks. you had to do that friday. that's okay. catching bottoms is very, very difficult. recognize that things may have changed. it's what's most important. how about the other side of the ledger? the spending cut. i think the biggest winner is lockheed martin. first because of the dividend, it yields 5%. the current rate of dividend income is second. lockheed like all defense contractors will have the earnings reduced because the government won't be allowed to afford expensive military hardware anymore. and that's point blank the worst

end of all spending is going to come right down to defense. want to hedge the bets? grab the stock that has the best exposure to the aerospace cycle and that is boeing. this is a stock that my charitable trust has been buying. stephanie link, she recommended it today. i think it pops the moment the defense budget is no longer under a cloud. of course, not all stocks can win if we avert the fiscal cliff. my favorite cliff jumper, intuit got hurt today, as it should. if the tax scheme doesn't change all that much, you may not be frightened into buying the turbo tax program. i know of no other winners in a rising tax declining spending world. that's why it's so darn destructive. people just keep telling me i see @jimcramer on twitter, jim, you don't know what you're talking about. jim, it's political. listen, guys, it hurts almost every stock i follow. here's the bottom line. you get a compromise, you get politicians to rise above anger

and partisanship, then you'll have many more days like today. glorious days! but if these hopes are snuffed, we know what happens. we get the crummy market we've had for weeks and weeks, the one that just might usher in the true bear market that would be a natural given the anticipated recession that the pols were supposed to fear as we got closer to the cliff. maybe the politicians in washington forgot that the preamble to the constitution does recommend that they promote, not destroy the general welfare, provide, not dismantle the common defense, and ensure tranquility, not turmoil. rising above? i think it's what the founding fathers had in mind. let's go to ed in new jersey. ed? >> hello, jim. boo-yah from surf city, new jersey. >> how's it going down there? >> not too bad. we didn't lose any shingles.

some parts are pretty bad. a lot of work here. i'm in construction. it's doing well. >> you know, they're not even letting the contractors into some parts of jersey. you're allowed to have one assistant with you. >> caller: i know. i have a pass for. that. >> that's what you need. the national guard won't let you through otherwise. >> caller: with the conflict in the middle east, how should i play oil? >> my way to be able to play it, if you want to have a leveraged way to play it is buy the oih calls, the etf. i personally think what you -- that's, you know, that will give you the oil service. those are the ones that really go crazy. my favorite remains schlumberger. slb. it's up $2.47 today. that's your play. malcolm in florida. malcolm? >> caller: jim, thank you for

that heads-up on amgen and starbucks last week. those were great calls. >> thank you. i like them both. starbucks, this teavana is going to be so huge for them. people keep misjudging howard shultz. one day they'll say that shultz was okay. what's up? >> caller: well, jim, i'm going a retired guy with 50% of my portfolio invested in high yield municipal bond etfs. my question to you is, in this environment, with the economic environment, with the possibility of a compromise regarding the fiscal cliff, vis-a-vis the increased revenues and cuts in spending, what is your analysis and your opinion on the tax free municipal bonds at this juncture? >> i think you have to buy them. the individual is going to go right back to them and move them up. i think that's a great place to be. don't touch them. i want you to buy them. brilliant idea. now we go to paul in louisiana. paul? >> caller: hey, jim. thanks for taking my call. >> no problem.

>> caller: i've been just getting in and sticking with a stock itw. i've been following it for a couple months. they seem to be doing pretty well. i gather there is going to be a change in the leadership. can you comment on their future? >> david spear passed away which is -- he was a terrific guy. this is a very well run company. i suspect that they won't really skip a beat. it's always been a favorite of mine. i would continue to own it. i wouldn't buy it off this. he was a good man. i think it's fine. i think it is fine. is this the rise above rally? we saw the power and promise of compromise today. i hope our politicians were watching this tape because we could see more days like today if they are rising above. you know what? i think it's what the founding fathers had in mind. "mad money" will be right back. >> coming up, generating returns? superstorm sandy may have ravaged the east coast. but it couldn't dampen the spirit to rebuild. after downed power lines left

many in the storm's path powerless, homeowners are taking preventative measures. cramer plugs you into a potential play just ahead. and later, rent to own? buyouts and fresh faced newcomers have given that new car smell to the rental market. and cramer's found a play that could be your vehicle to growth. find out which of these companies could give you a smooth ride. plus, holding them accountable. the fiscal cliff is coming. and if washington won't rise above, they face cramer's consequences. he's got a brand new "wall of shame" for those preventing compromise, and it's about to get its first members. the storm of shame is coming. don't miss out. all coming up on "mad money."

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ever since hurricane sandy hit and knocked out power for millions of people across the northeast, a little stock called generac has become the market's favorite post sandy relief play. it makes all kinds of power generators including the backup generators that were in high demand when the lights went in and out in new york and new jersey. it is part of the recognition that this kind of devastating bad weather is here to stay. no more of that one in 100 year things. no one wants to be hostage to the grid anymore. now, i don't want to recommend generac here. i don't. i think it's run too much. i have something even better for you. i have a stealth sandy play that does the same darn thing. the stock hasn't run since the storm at all. i'm talking about briggs and stratton. bgg! the world's largest producer of gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment.

briggs and stratton is north america's number one manufacturer of portal generators. as well as pressure washers and also leading maker of stand by generators. another business that should benefit from the aftermath of sandy. briggs and stratton is such a big player, why aren't they rallying? part of it is because briggs and stratton gets only 10% of its sales from generators. the company is very far from a pure play, however, they make the best generators. i think the 10% number could grow as buying a backup generator becomes more mainstream. you got to remember millions of people are without power for days or weeks in the northeast. some people still don't have power. people are thinking to themselves, next time i'm going to have a generator. generac talked about the idea of homeowners buying stand by generators as storm insurance.

you know, it applies the same at briggs and stratton. i think that generator business is definitely big enough to move the needle in a post sandy environment where people realize the horrific storms are here to stay. now briggs and stratton reported a disappointing quarter on october 18th, that also hurt the cause pretty greatly. [ baby crying ] that was right before the storm. the company noted they had no storm activity outlook in the next quarter. and then sandy happened. you have to believe numbers could be too low. the hurricane boost near term demand for generators and caused a secular shift where owning a backup generator is a basic precaution. somewhat of a -- like owning an expensive flashlight. these engines were blowing the doors out of home depot before the storm. and after it, there's going to be a ton of demand by people who lost so much food during the hurricane. even someone as not mechanically inclined as i am can figure out how to work one of these babies. a little gasoline, extension cords and next thing you know, i'm mr. kilowatt.

roughly 80% of the lawn and garden equipment powered by bgg is sold through lowe's and home depot. we know they're doing very well. lowe's just reported an excellent quarter this morning. lowe's is the worse of the two. we know that briggs and stratton's engine business was hurt by the drought. there was less demand for agriculture equipment or lawn and garden gear. but on the conference call, there could be an uptick in the business as we get close to the planting season. by the way, lowe's said in this conference call today that the uptick is already upon us. good one in lawn and garden equipment at the beginning of this reporting period. plus this company is a major beneficiary from the turn in housing. we know that the turn continues. we just got some very positive existing home sales numbers this very morning. demand for outdoor power equipment like the kind briggs and stratton makes is highly correlated to housing demand.

we're entering a lawn and garden replacement cycle. shipments of this stuff peaks seven, eight years. so if you simply want a working pressure washer or snow thrower, pretty soon you're going to have to buy a replacement. also starting next spring, new regulations will kick in requiring all lawn mowers to meet phase three emission standards. there will be competition from cheap chinese imports. this story is not about outside forces. they're trying to take control of its own destiny. next spring they launch 40 new products, significant increased in the number that they produced this year and the reaction from the dealer is extremely positive plus they're cutting costs, closing a plant in the czech republic, downsizing some operations in the u.s. and the stock gives 2.5% yield. in the aftermath of hurricane sandy, we learned never to take our electricity for granted. it can always be knocked out by the next big storm. that's why generac has rallied so massively. it pulls back maybe we'll look

at it. but if you're looking for a smart stealth way to benefit from the increased demand for generators, i say look no further than briggs and stratton which has barely budged at all since the storm, despite making best generators out there. after the break, i'll try to make you more money. >> coming up, rent to own? buyouts and fresh faced newcomers have given that new car smell to the rental market. and cramer's found a play that could be your vehicle of growth. find out which of these companies can give you a smooth ride. and later, natural wonder? clean, domestic, abundant and ignored? after some promising returns, plays on the nat gas fuel future have failed to gain traction. tonight, cramer lays out what to watch for so you can position your portfolio. plus, holding them accountable. the fiscal cliff is coming. and if washington won't rise above, they face cramer's consequences.

he's got a brand new "wall of shame" for those preventing compromise. and it's about to get its first members. the storm of shame is coming. don't miss out. all coming up on "mad money." there's nothing worse than going to the post office and waiting in line. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com, you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages. it gives you the exact amount of postage you need the instant you need it. can you print only stamps? no. first class. priority mail. certified. international. and the mailman picks it up. i don't leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4-week trial

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be able to make a deal to bridge the fiscal cliff is just a bunch of hot air. in that case, we want to know what could work without a positive resolution which is why i want to talk about the rental car business tonight. lately the rental car business is -- it's come back with a vengeance. the big rental car businesses are roaring. now some of this is because the u.s. travel market has begun to rebound. more people are renting cars all over the country. some have to do with hurricane sandy. 200,000 cars taken out of commission. and that should lead to a short term increase in demand. the sandy bump won't last. the real reason for the resurgence of the rental car business could be because of something that happens in washington. it is one word. and that word is consolidation! over the last decade this industry has seen a series of

mergers that allowed the rental car companies to cut costs and also raise price. and with the recent acquisition of dollar thrifty by hertz, there are now only four players that really matter here. just four. and one of them, enterprise is private. which means you have only three possible ways to play this rental car bull market. there is hertz, second largest player through enterprise and the largest traded rental car company and avis. and now that dollar thrifty is taken over, the last one is zip car. it's been a total dog. now back in june before we knew about the dollar thrifty deal, i told you to buy hertz. it was best in breed. stay the heck away from zip car. because it felt like a flash in the pan. since then, hertz has given you 18% gain. zip car plummeted, wow, 30%. in august we found out that hertz reached an agreement to buy dollar thrifty. the number four player, $87.50 a

share in all cash. means we need to revisit this space to see how things have changed. boy, they have changed and changed for the better. first of all, zip car, it is still the worst of the bunch. >> sell, sell, sell! >> i wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. here is a company that came up with a really good idea. one hour car rentals. pick them up by the side of the road. just because you have a good idea doesn't mean you profit from it. of course, you can keep them longer. by the time zip became public, the big boys were in on the hourly rental action. zip had a great idea, there was nothing proprietary about it. the stock has been going down in a straight line since it was $18. now it's under $7. i think it could go lower. it did have a bump on a better than expected quarter. that is because expectations have been so dramatically reduced that they could beat it. that leaves us with hertz and avis. it is more than twice the gains you get from hertz. even after this move, avis is

cheaper. despite all this, and, you know, i think avis is good, i think hertz is even better. the reason is simple. the dollar thrifty deal. like i said before, a huge part of the rental car renaissance is being driven by consolidation. when they merge, they take out enormous amounts of fixed costs which leads to much higher earnings. in the antitrust division of the justice department gave hertz the go ahead to buy dollar thrifty last week, that was your signal to double down on the stock. who says washington is all bad for stocks? just as clearly they favor the stock price. after the deal closes, the combined company will have 10,000 locations worldwide. they will pass enterprise. not only that, the dollar thrifty transaction could add 35 cents per share to hertz base earnings. which is why hertz popped 8% when the announcement was first made. when you hear about a takeover

and the acquired stock shoots higher, you know it's going to be a really good deal for them. dollar thrifty will shift hertz's focus back toward the united states. hertz gets 18% of the sales from europe. after that, after the deal that number will be diminished which is the only way to deal with europe is to get it to be a smaller piece of your business's pie. plus, because the combined companies lost so much more scale, they'll be able to really take it to avis by cutting prices and forcing them to match. how important is consolidation to the business? let me give you numbers. according to dollar thrifty, the number of rental days, key metric, measures how many cars are rented and for how long. that increases by 1%. that will produce a nine cent boost to earnings per share. but if they can somehow cut operating expenses by 1%, look at this, a 31 cent boost to earnings. this is an industry where you can cut costs your way right to much higher earnings and that's what the dollar thrifty deal is

all about. that's why i think the stock is going to move so big. i bet you there is more to take out. beyond the dollar thrifty deal, they have an equipment rental business. that is good. that matters. they have a leasing business that's going well, too. this is a major diversified player, major catalyst which is why hertz is the one to buy even though it is up large since i first recommended it. the rental car business is resurging. now that hertz has been able to buy dollar thrifty that makes me like this best of breed stock even more than i liked it before. i liked it then. i say sell, sell, sell zip car, ring the register on avis and buy, buy, buy some hertz. let's take calls. let's go to gaston in washington. >> caller: jim, how's it going? big boo-yah from the great northwest. >> fantastic. thank you. what's going on? >> caller: not much. i'm concerned about ford. i'm wondering where it would be heading with this fiscal cliff

looming and the recent hurricane sandy. >> ford, i have to tell you, ford is a european play. they have so much europe that they can pull down everything. until they get europe under control, you cannot own ford. can i go to virginia in indiana, please? >> caller: my brother says to buy garmin. what do you say? >> i think garmin is cheap. i think that it's always going to be cheap. i like the stock. i told people to buy it. it has not worked out. i continue to think it is a very inexpensive stock. it does need a catalyst. there are guys telling you to sell it. i think they're wrong. wow. okay, hertz has taken the wheel. the rental car business is zooming and hertz is your best play. buy, buy, buy! >> i can not believe how good this industry is after how bad it was for so long. stay with hertz. stay with cramer. coming up, you are ready to get charged up? cramer cranks up the voltage and goes electric on an all new

hyperactive "lightning round." and later, natural wonder? clean, domestic, abundant and ignored? after some promising returns, plays on the nat gas fuel future have failed to gain traction. tonight, cramer lays out what to watch for so you can position your portfolio. plus, holding them accountable. the fiscal cliff is coming. if washington won't rise above, they face cramer's consequences. he's got a new wall of shame and it's about to get its first members. the storm of shame is coming. don't miss out. all coming up on "mad money." ife our schools...

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it's time for the lightning round. are you ready? time for the "lightning round." david in california. david? >> caller: boo-yah dr. cramer. >> yo-yo.

>> caller: thank you for everything you do to keep us informed. >> thank you. >> caller: thanks for being a role model with everything do you with your charitable trust as well. >> thank you. gave away a lot of money so far. thank you. >> caller: there you are. so i want to talk about osur. >> it's been a disaster since they came on. a disaster. i mean it's unbelievable. it's like the top of the stock when they came in. i don't know what to say. to me, it's too low. but it's been a disaster. let's go to cary in louisiana. >> caller: boo-yah, jim. >> what's up? >> caller: lng in my sight. i can't seem to make myself pull a trigger. >> i like the limited partnership more because i like that yield and they've been able to pay it. cqp is my favorite and preferred way to play that combination. let's go to charlie in new jersey. >> jim? i sold some heckman.

i had a loss on it. i sold some cummins and bought abbott labs. am i going in the right direction? >> there was an article about recycling water. that is heckman's bread and butter. they didn't mention heckman. i thought he should say, listen this is our bread and butter. that was a little disappointing for me. let's go to rick in georgia. rick? >> caller: jimbo. i need to know about gold, gld. >> buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. >> best in show. what can i tell you? it's a fiscal cliff play either way. and let's go to dan in missouri. dan? >> caller: yeah, wondering what you thought about anheuser-busch stock. >> oh, my. just a terrific stock. i like diagio more. i do like bud very, very much. let's go to rob in connecticut.

rob? >> caller: what's going on, jim? what do you think of dvd? >> i do like the stock. i've been talking about it. a couple calls on this one. i have to refocus on it. everybody likes it. let's take one more. let's go to renato in florida. >> jim, thank you so much for taking my calls. boo-yah to you. >> thank you. >> caller: listen, i have a concern about annaly capital management, wells fargo upgraded it to outperform. i'm concerned about the fiscal cliff, taxes and all that. >> well, if you are concerned, lay low on this one. i saw that upgrade. i didn't really understand the acquisition that they made. welcome the new ceo on. that will be terrific to suss out what the cliff means for the company. otherwise, i'm a little nervous because of that acquisition. i don't understand it. better to admit you don't understand something than try to say yeah, that sounds like a good idea. and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the "lightning round." >> the "lightning round" is sponsored by t.d. ameritrade. he loves risk.

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if natural gas is so cheap, why isn't it being used all over the place in cars and trucks? why don't we have an infrastructure system that allows us to capture something that is so abundant? first, there's no doubt that a switch to natural gas, a system like that would make our continent energy self-sufficient. we discovered so much shale gas that companies with the highest gas patches are the ones that saw the glut coming and dramatically cut the exposure to natural gas. one look at the evaluation of eog resources tells you that. it used to be a purveyor of natural gas. they are now a big time growth oil company because, well, papa knows there is no more room for any natural gas and any attempts to drill for the stuff will drive eog's valuation down. it has much to be gained from drilling two primary plays,

both of which regarded as finds that could rival the size of prudhoe bay. the other companies that have not been able to capitalize is chesapeake and devon. they're trying to get to much less natural gas as percentage of the production. but devon made a move into nat gas liquids is disastrous. chesapeake moved to the utica shale in ohio. they thought they could, well, it just augmented the natural gas reserves. utica doesn't have as much gas reserves as it looked like. natural gas is so abundant, what is the deal? why aren't we using it? first, cut back on oil imports, you need to get the major trucking companies to switch to natural gas from diesel. there is tremendous reluctance to do so. first, they hoped the government would support the pickens plan. a subsidy would have been paid back. the natural gas industry bet the farm on this thing.

they held back while the betting occurred. it didn't. legislation still -- it's dead. the industry sought to make the engine cheaper and caught a break with the huge decline in natural gas prices. while they work well, i'm calling them disappointing. part of that comes from a lack of nat gas engines. that's because west port innovations was supposed to make them in volume last year but the product is very late. now it's supposed to be 2013. in the meantime, while clean energy fuel, clne, is attempting to build out a network of stations, they only cover a tiny fractions of our roads. there are just 600 public compressed natural gas stations in the country. guess how many gas stations there are. give up? 120,000. the engines are underpowered. you can't fit 250 miles of a natural gas in the truck. diesel lets you go 500 miles. that is probably enough of a deal breaker that even though you have a one year pay back, the infrastructure is suboptical. garbage trucks are the biggest adopters. waste management and republic. they have fleets of trucks in cities that are all short haul.

they can fill them up at night. in part because the particular cutback is so significant they use nat gas. other than garbage, bust. how about cars? as disappointing as trucks have been, autos, they're a disaster. the reason? first, we don't have many cars that can take natural gas. my talks with the major auto companies made it clear there is no demand for the cars which are more expensive than gasoline powered models. that's what the car industry is saying. further, we don't have the refueling capacity for the cars. faster fueling pumps at gas station cost $500,000 plus the stations that have them are concentrated in a small number of states. home refueling can be replacement and it's a dream. i love the dream. but becoming real progress. the technology is too expensive. it is coming down fast. and the boxes which are built by whirlpool, general electric and eaton have the possibility of coming in at $500 apiece. further, there is already a natural gas distribution system in place. utility companies cover 65

million customers. if they were smart, right, utilities, this is a good business for them, they can subsidize the boxes to allow for overnight fueling. the storms in the northeast showed the wisdom of hooking up a generator. this is a similar operation. the utilities should be behind them. you get the utilities providing the feature and the box. then the demand for the vehicles will expand dramatically and you'd have to believe that auto companies will then offer natural gas fuel option en masse. savings from fuel will be considerable for each household. right now you can see a 2 1/2 year payback for the vehicles as the annual savings will be at $2,175 per household. cost about $4,000 more than a gasoline powered car. people don't like to pay that much though. they don't see the payback. the cost of the cars could come down over time. that would change this. still, there would be little opportunity to fill up on the road unless exxon, the biggest natural gas producer in this country, were to convert some of the -- at least a couple pumps

at its gas stations to handle natural gas. that is something they repeatedly and pointedly said they will not do. they are natural gas's worst enemy even though they're the largest producer. the need for expensive hybrids might be beyond the reach for many individuals without the gas stations. these are mighty obstacles. to me, they make wide scale adoption of natural gas engines any time soon seem fanciful. it would help tremendously if the president were to designate natural gas as the fuel of choice versus gasoline for cars. can't use windmills or solar, okay? but he's got the battery and ethanol thing. he hasn't done this. if he did the military and post office might adopt the fuel. that would jump-start the infrastructure. gasoline could spike in cost and you would see the need to have an alternative infrastructure after hurricane sandy. third, one of the major utilities, they're all heavily engaged in texas, oklahoma area. they could decide to get behind

the fuel and drive the cost of the home fueling boxes lower. at the same time offering a subsidy that makes it worthwhile as soon as the boxes can be mass produced. tall order, people. the prospect of natural gas replacing oil in the auto and truck fuel chain any time soon is almost nil when you consider the cost of the equipment, lack of the infrastructure and the small differential between natural gas and gasoline. only a concerted effort by the president to make us energy independent of opec could spur the imperative. i put it like that because in the end this is a fossil fuel. and the president does not favor any fossil fuels over renewables which is why he is willing to continue to subsidize renewables over natural gas opportunities despite it is a clean, cheaper homegrown alternative versus a regime based on imported oil. it's unfortunate this fuel which could make such a difference in this country has so many obstacles in front of it. to grow, natural gas has to rely on further utilities switching from coal, mass production of

chemical and fertilizer plants to use it and the export of fuel which is stillborn. in fact, i would bet that surface vehicles powered by natural gas will simply not be a meaningful contributor to our energy independence until long after president obama completes his second term. "mad money" is back after the break. coming up, holding them accountable. the fiscal cliff is coming. and if washington won't rise above, they face cramer's consequences. he's got a brand new wall of shame for those preventing compromise and it's about to get its first members. the storm of shame is coming. don't miss out.

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and the award for the most strident elected official when it comes to compromise -- i thought it was mitch mcconnell, senate minority leader from kentucky who said that recent election was a mandate to keep taxes from increasing. but i don't know. i'm getting nervous. i think that former speaker nancy pelosi may have topped that this weekend when she answered no to a question about whether there could be a deal that just caps deductions for the wealthy but doesn't raise tax rates for them. now maybe possible -- no. flat out no. until pelosi's compromise

killer, i put the senate minority leader in a class by himself in the obstructionist camp. now, of course, one can argue that senator patty merit, the fourth ranking senate democrat is the most out there with her hey, let's go over the fiscal cliff comments in order to force republicans to the table. she's a champion idea that wants more over the cliff than republicans will fold. again, no harm, no foul. if mary doesn't change her tune, she's the most likely candidate to be named to the "mad money" wall of shame fiscal cliff annex. there are other parts of the cliff that will give you huge layoffs, particularly in the defense industry. these jobs wouldn't be switched back like they're electric lights in your home. power goes out, they stay out. unless you think the defense budget is wildly overinflated and we should cut that tax credit in half. oh, yeah. how about throwing the 33 million taxpayers into that

draconian alternative minimum tax regime? that ought to teach them. make it harder to be jobless. going over the cliff is a harmless to prove a point. but if you want to prove a point, why not? it's pelosi's view that may prove more worrisome. it puts the whole deal that could be raised by eliminating bush's tax cuts to the rich. that is a drop in the bucket compared to the other tax hikes. again, if your belief is that what matters more than anything else is to not rise above, hey, more power to you. by simply saying no, she makes it tough to sit down and work out a package where there could be some capping of deductions and the republican way of raising money in return for a $400,000 means test on taxes. i'll compromise for her. she makes it difficult to get to the next level, even more difficult than mcconnell does perhaps with his desire to find ways to tax rich people. hey, thank goodness both pelosi and mcconnell are in the minority. of course, the oddity here is

that the republican leadership wants to completely ignore president obama's win. he did win. i was there that tuesday night. and win -- as if it entirely didn't happen. i mean you can easily ask why protect the richest of the rich from the tax increases. these people invest in new businesses versus buying municipal bonds. i mean job creators. how about municipal bond buyers? they're not out there creating jobs. they're buying munis. you also have to ask yourself why do so many republicans favor allowing hedge funds to pay a vastly reduced capital gains rate on the paychecks instead of ordinary income tax as the rest of us? i can tell you i didn't need the 15% rate to have a good year. a simple hey let's see from pelosi and everything is on the table for mcconnell. that is kind of what we want to hear. but why put everything on the table if something is already

taken off the table, ability to compromise over higher taxes for the wealthy. taken off the table, it's not going to be on the table. put the it another way, who is sinking below rather than rising above politics in a more definitive fashion? republican mcconnell who has been a chief obstructionist or democratic pelosi with her just say no approach to compromise or patty murray's bring it on attitude to fiscal cliff? bring it on! maybe, just maybe they all want to be on the wall of shame. i think i can accommodate them. stay with cramer.

>> you saw what happened today.